


Pegasus By The Dashboard Light

by respoftw



Series: Tumblr Prompts - McShep edition [9]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe - Sentinels & Guides, Bonding, First Meetings, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-22
Updated: 2016-07-22
Packaged: 2018-07-26 02:05:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7555909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/respoftw/pseuds/respoftw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An alternate take on canon where Rodney can't get to Atlantis unless he finds a Sentinel to bond with.  Or; an alternate universe where Rodney is a really big Meatloaf fan.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Pegasus By The Dashboard Light

**Author's Note:**

> For the lovely and very supportive @unwoundbobbin

The fact that he wouldn't be allowed to go to Atlantis because he was an unbonded guide was the most idiotic and ridiculous thing that Rodney had ever heard, a fact that he made no bones about sharing with every member of the IOA.    
  
"Dr. McKay,"  the Canadian representative's tone managed to be wheedling and patronising and insipid all at once, "you must understand the IOAs position.  Guides, especially highly respected and trained Guides such as yourself, are a rarity these days.  The number of unbonded Sentinels continues to increase year on year and it would be wasteful of us to lose a prize of your worth."   
  
Rodney could _almost_ have gave him points for playing the flattery card but his outrage bristled at being referred to as a prize.  Elizabeth, a fellow Guide (albeit a bonded one) and leader of the soon to be Atlantis expedition stepped in before the throbbing vein in Rodney's temple exploded.   
  
"I understand that," she soothed. "No one is suggesting that we deprive a Sentinel of a guide of Dr. McKay's calibre."  The IOA representative lifted his chin in victory as he smiled at Rodney.  "But," Elizabeth continued, wiping the smug smirk from the man's face,  "isn't it true that there is a shortage of military personnel for the trip?  And isn't is true that there are dozens of soldiers, some even here at the SGC, that would be suited to this mission but are - much like Rodney - not being considered because of their unbonded status?  What you have here, gentlemen, is an opportunity."   
  


* * *

  
"I can't believe you did that,"  Rodney whirled on Elizabeth as soon as they arrived in her office.  "You were supposed to convince them that they needed me not sell me off to some uneducated grunt like a piece of meat."   
  
Elizabeth sighed as she closed the door.  "They were never going to let you go unbonded, Rodney.  You know that."  She crossed the room and sat heavily in her chair.  "Honestly, I'm surprised that you're against this.   _Atlantis_ , Rodney."  Her eyes sparkled at him, clearly trying to imbue him with excitement.  "You'll be in Atlantis, running the science and research department.  Isn't it worth - -"   
  
"What?"  Rodney interrupted bitterly.  "Bending over and letting some Neanderthal claim me for their own?"   
  
Elizabeth had the gall to look shocked.  "Rodney," she chided, "you know as well as I do that less than half of all Sentinel/Guide bonds have any kind of sexual element to them."   
  
Rodney scoffed.  Elizabeth had been bonded for too long if she thought there needed to be sex for a Sentinel to act all entitled over their Guide.  Never mind that her Sentinel was a scientist.  Rodney had worked for the military in some capacity for far too long to harbour any illusions about the general behaviour of their Sentinels.  He'd be lucky if his Sentinel let him leave their side long enough to change a lightbulb, never mind run the science side of an expedition the size of Atlantis.   
  
"Just meet a few of them.  You never know, you might meet your true match."  With that last piece of trite advice, Elizabeth flipped the screen of her laptop open, signalling the end of the conversation and his dismissal.     
  
Furious, but knowing that there was no getting through to her when she considered the matter closed, Rodney stormed out the room.  The extra forceful slam of the door behind him didn't make him feel as better as he'd thought it would.     
  
Atlantis.  

Rodney thought of what he was giving up as he made his way towards the lab that he'd taken over as his own.  He'd wanted the Atlantis posting since the moment he heard of the Pegasus Galaxy, loudly proclaiming to anyone who asked that he would do _anything_ to get it.  What was that awful Meatloaf song that Jeannie used to love?  I would do anything for Atlantis (but I won't do that)? _Great_ , he thought, _now I'm pissed off **and** I have that stupid song stuck in my head_.  He'd always been more partial to _Life Is a Lemon and I Want My Money Back_.  It certainly summed up his current situation.  It hurt, it _physically hurt_ , to have Atlantis so close to being a reality but so incredibly far at the same time.   
  
A fatigue clad soldier almost ran into him as he turned the corner and, somewhere in between berating him and trying to work out just how the hell he knew so many Meatloaf songs, Rodney realised that he was just one corridor over from the barracks that the SGC housed any unbonded Sentinels in.  Like they were some sort of plight on the rest of the base, to be kept out of sight and out of mind.  He'd even heard some of the less unlucky members of the military refer to it as the Senile barracks.  Really, he thought, they didn't have it any better than him.  He'd heard the stories.  Back when he was trying to woo Major Carter into taking him as her Guide he'd learned that unbonded Sentinels in the Air Force never made it past Major.  It didn't matter how stellar their record was or how lauded their abilities in the field, the military brass just wouldn't consider promoting them beyond a certain level.  He knew it was true for all the other branches of the military as well.   
  
It struck him then that Atlantis was likely a one way ticket.  A one way ticket away from the military and the government and the IOA.  He could be _free_.  Free of the small minded beliefs that had plagued him since he tested as a Guide in the fifth grade.   
  
As horrifying as the thought of having an active member of the military to look after was, what with the fact that he would have to accompany them off wold or into combat zones (he'd never really thought that part through when he was trying to convince Sam), Rodney was coming to the realisation that he would do anything for Atlantis - _including_ that.   
  
When he reached the next junction he took the left turn that would lead him to the barracks and, hopefully, his Sentinel.   
  


* * *

  
The only good thing, in John's mind,  about the Senile barracks was the Nintendo in the rec room.  Well, that and the fact that his commanding Officer didn't step foot in there if he could help it.  In fact, the privacy of sharing the space with only four other people (those who, like him, were stupid enough to pretend that they still had a future in the military) when compared to the sardine tins that the rest of the enlisted men and women had to deal with was almost worth the fact that his career had been as good as over since Lyle had been shot down.   
  
Lyle had been his Guide since basic training and while they had never been one of those pairs that had bonded in a more personal manner, John still felt his absence every minute of every damn day.  The shrinks that they'd sent him to kept telling him to open himself up to someone new, that it wasn't Lyle he missed, it was the stabling influence of a Guide.  The last time the quack had started harping on about he might just find his _true_ Guide if only he were to meet with one of the many wonderful unbonded Guides the SGC had to offer, John had walked out the session and had viciously ran Lorne off the track on Rainbow Road.   
  
"You have Nintendo in here?"     
  
John turned to find a strange man standing in the entrance of the barracks with a jealous look on his face.  He watched with a coolly raised eyebrow as the man (balding, soft around the middle but surprisingly broad shouldered with powerful looking thighs, probably one of the diplomats that was kicking around) strode into the room and settled himself on the couch next to John, picking up a controller without so much as a 'how do you do'.   
  
"This is ridiculous," the man griped.  "What? They give you guys the good stuff as a ham fisted apology for treating you like second class citizens?  Oh my God, I bet you even get the good chocolate and coffee."   
  
John felt the corner of his mouth tip up in amusement as he revised his assessment from diplomat to scientist.   
  
"Are you lost?" he asked.   
  
"What?"  The stranger seemed to register him as a person and not some Nintendo-hoarding apparition for the first time.    
  
John half expected him to be embarrassed but the defiant head tilt and jutting out jaw told him that this man was not the type to embarrass easily.   
  
"No, I'm not lost," the man said witheringly.  "I'm exactly where I want to be, thank you very much."   
  
John raised an eyebrow questioningly.  "In the Senile barracks?"   
  
The flutter of disgust that flashed across the man's face at the cruel nickname warmed John.  He felt his opinion of the man change from rude to interesting.  Ah, what the hell, he thought, he didn't have anything else better to do.   
  
He picked up the other controller and thumbed the remote to AV.  "Come on," he said, "race you."   
  


* * *

Rodney crowed his victory to the nonexistent crowd as he once again demolished the frustrated looking Mario avatar on the screen.   
  
"You have to be cheating," the flyboy accused, "no one is this good."  He smiled as he said it though, a flash of teeth before he pulled another drink from his bottle, so Rodney decided that his offended tantrum could wait.   
  
"It's all physics," he replied smugly.  "I don't care how good you soldiers think your reflexes are, without some good, old-fashioned physics you'll never master the rainbow road."   
  
His new acquaintance, Rodney recognised the Major insignia on his rumpled shirt but had yet to get his name, just shook his head; in a way that Rodney would have described as fondly if it hadn't been directed at him.   
  
"Another beer?"   
  
The Major stretched his back out and Rodney resolutely did not watch.  Which meant he absolutely did _not_ start salivating at the way the black shirt rode up to expose a strip of excessively hairy but still tantalisingly lickable skin.   
  
Shaking himself, he tried to focus on why he was here.   _Find a Sentinel to bond with, get to Atlantis, get away from the biased views of the military and the IOA and maybe win a Nobel prize_.  Not drooling after some hotshot Air Force pilot stuck on Sentinel babysitter duty.   
  
"I shouldn't," he said reluctantly, "I wouldn't want to get drunk.  It might interfere with the bonding process."   
  
The Major spat out his mouthful of beer.  "You're a Sentinel?!"   
  
"Please," Rodney glared, "I'm a Guide.  Best trained unbonded Guide on the continent.  Not that Antartica has a large population but, still.  Speaking of, you don't know when any of the unbonded Sentinels will be back do you?  Because I have the opportunity of a lifetime for them and they're not here to listen to it."   
  


* * *

  
John thought this might just qualify for the weirdest afternoon of his life.   
  
First, some scientist (a physicist, he was fairly sure) whose name he still hadn't gotten, had intruded on his quiet time.  Then he'd spent a highly enjoyable yet strangely tortuous two hours getting beaten at every conceivable video game; all while trying very hard to rein in his want to bury his nose in his new friends neck.  And now - to top it all off - he finds out that Mr Physics is a Guide.  An _unbonded_ Guide.  An unbonded Guide looking for a Sentinel.   
  
He isn't sure whether to laugh or cry so settles instead for downing the rest of his beer.   
  
"What kind of opportunity?" he hedges.   
  
The way his scientist's (fuck, not _his_ scientist, oh God he was screwed) eyes lit up, looking about three shades bluer than they had a moment ago was almost enough for John to offer himself up then and there.  He tried very hard to remind himself that he didn't want or need another Guide.   
  
"An opportunity to get out from under the military's archaic views on Sentinels and Guides.  To go somewhere where it won't matter what your status is as long as you can do your job."   
  
John scoffed.  Pretty words.  He'd heard them before.  "There isn't anywhere in the galaxy that would be true."   
  
"Not in this galaxy, no."  Blue eyes sparkled at him.   
  
John leaned back on the couch, assessing.  Mr Physics (or Dr. Physics probably) definitely believed what he was saying and John would have had to be blind, deaf and dumb not to have heard the rumblings that something big was about to be announced.  Still, it sounded too good to be true.   
  
"If what you're saying is true," he pushed, "why do you even need to bond in the first place?"   
  
The blue eyes lost a bit of their spark which made John want to hunt down whoever had made him feel that way.  "To get there.  The IOA is still in charge here so I need a bond to get there but after that, the possibilities are endless."   
  
"You'd still be bonded though," John pointed out.  "To someone you barely knew."   
  
"Trust me, Major."  Dr. Physics sighed.  "It would be worth it.  If any of those damn Sentinels showed up that is."   
  
John swallowed.   
  
It was now or never.   
  
All the reasons he hadn't wanted a Guide just didn't seem to stack up when confronted with a crooked mouth, broad shoulders and A-grade sarcasm.  His shrink would be joyous.   
  
He cleared his throat.  "What exactly did you think I was doing here if I wasn't a Sentinel?"   
  


* * *

Rodney felt like he'd swallowed his tongue.   
  
"You're a - " he squeaked.   
  
"Major John Sheppard, USAF, unbonded Sentinel, at your service."

"But you're hot!"  Rodney sputtered.  "I mean, you're, uh, you're _not_ zoning out everywhere or - -"   
  
The Major, _John_ , interrupted him.  "Don't tell me you believe that crap.  I've only zoned out once since I lost my Guide.  You don't see me accusing you of being too overwhelmed with feelings and emotions to work, do you?"   
  
"Good point," Rodney said, flushing pink at his slip of the tongue.  "So, what, we're doing this?  Because you should know that this could be a one way trip.  You might never see your friends or family again."   
  
John shrugged.  "I'm an unbonded Sentinel whose career has stalled and is an embarrassment to his family.  I think I'm OK with that.  Besides," he said, "you're hot too."   
  
Rodney stood up, all the better to verbally attack John for teasing him like that but John followed, standing close.   
  
"You are," he said.  "You're smart, you're opinionated and when you went to the bathroom earlier I couldn't help but notice that you've got the best ass I've ever seen.  I just have one reservation."   
  
Rodney sized him up warily.  "What?"   
  
John grinned.  "I don't know your name."   
  
Rodney huffed a laugh and held out his hand.  "It's Rodney.  Dr. Rodney McKay, PhD PhD, the almost Head of Science and Research on Atlantis and...your new Guide?"   
  
John smiled, reaching out to shake his hand.  "It's good to meet you - -"   
  
John's greeting broke off as their hands touched.  Rodney didn't blame him; he wasn't sure if he could breathe right now, never mind speak.     
  
He'd read about this before.  Of course he had.  Any Sentinel or Guide - no matter how much they insisted otherwise - had read up on this. It hadn't prepared him.  It _couldn't_ have prepared him.   
  
There was a mountain lion and a snake curled up in the corner of the room.   _Nothing_ could have prepared him for that.   
  
_A true bond._   
  
Oh God, Elizabeth was going to be unbearable,   
  
The mountain lion nuzzled at the snakes underbelly as it wrapped itself around the lions legs and  John buried his nose in in the crook of Rodney's neck.   
  
Screw Elizabeth, he thought. Atlantis was his.  His and John's.  John, who was hot and funny and OK, yes, maybe he was military but - as Meatloaf said - two out of three ain't bad.   
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> I feel I should make it clear that I have never seen The Sentinel so this is a bit of a Frankenstein's monster of bits and pieces I've picked up from other Sentinel fics. Forgive me!
> 
> Come hit me up on [tumblr](http://buffycuddlespigs.tumblr.com)


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